Supplies of live cod from coastal fishermen have been so abundant that Royal Greenland’s factory and the wellboat used for live fish collection have struggled to keep up.
The live cod season has been so strong that factory trawler Sisimiut has been brought in to take some of the live cod, relieving the pressure on the company’s factory in Maniitsoq, which has a capacity to process between 300 and 400 tonnes per week.
‘Around a hundred fishermen currently have about 2000 tonnes of live cod in net cages along the coast, from Maniitsoq in the north to Paamiut in the south. As there is a lot of fish and these are long distances, the well boat Maniitsoq can’t keep up with transporting the fish to the factory in Maniitsoq. So we have found another solution,’ said Royal Greenland’s operations manager Sten Sørensen.
‘We have obtained permission from the Government to deploy the trawler Sisimiut for production of cod from the net cages. Sisimiut will now follow the well boat to the fjords on the coast. Here the fishermen bring their catches from the net cages to the well boat, from where the live cod is transferred to Sisimiut to be processed into fillets.’
He said that the factory in Maniitsoq will continue production of the delicate Nutaaq-Cod.
‘We have filled the basin at the factory in Maniitsoq with live cod, enough for the factory to continue producing Nutaaq-Cod fillets for two weeks. This is for a limited period and a volume of fish needs be handled, so Sisimiut is helping out until the large quantities of fish in the net cages on the coast are reduced – probably in two to three weeks,’ Sten Sørensen said.
In 2019, around 2000 tonnes of Nutaaq-Cod were delivered and produced at Royal Greenland’s factory in Maniitsoq. This year, the factory has so far purchased and produced 2500 tonnes of Nutaaq-Cod from between 130 to 150 net cages. Fishing for live cod is expected to continue until November 2020.
